Egging you on............. a Challenge.........

Stuart Ablett

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Tokyo Japan
I know a good challenge can bring out the best in most of us, so here is mine to all you turners out there.

Try to turn some eggs......... :thumb:

Don't bother with sanding, or finish, just turn something that looks like an egg.

I know the more experienced guys will be able to do this with little effort, but some of the new guys, or us with limited spindle work skills will have to work a little harder at it.

here is my collection since Sunday.........

eggs.JPG

You can see my evolution, I'm getting better, but they still need work.

I'm using a Bedan to do this, and I'm learning a great deal, does not take very long, and the wood I'm using are scraps. I do not worry about the ends being perfect, the form is more important to me, and the practice, so, if you are up for it, "Get Cracking" :D :rofl:

Cheers!
 
My dad will be in town this weekend...we will both try a couple.:thumb: I told him I would have the shop...err garage sorta clean by then :doh:so it will have to wait until then.
 
Those are cool, Stu! Good stuff.

We had a guy demo how to turn an egg in one of our recent local club meetings. He used a piece of PVC pipe as a chuck to finish the parted end. Worked really well.
 
Stu, I assume your first one is on the left and your last one is on the right. That being said the one on the right looks spot on.

Now, you know turners hate challenges.........................
 
A year or so ago I turned some eggs for a "Who's Your Mamma" display at the Ogden Nature Center. In the display there are the eggs and the pictures of the birds that lay them and the kids are supposed to guess how they match up. The eggs are turned to the actual size and shape of the real ones and my daughter painted them like the real eggs. If I remember right, they are l to r, top to bottom, Pelican, Golden Eagle, Wild Turkey, Great Horned Owl, Raven, Kildeer, Robin.
 

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Ya i think I need to practice making a fwe of those. Got my bedan sharpened the way Jean-Francois showed me with the ever so slight hollow grind.
 
Give it a whirl :D

Two things that are important, to me, one is to use a dead center as your drive, this way when, WHEN you have a catch, it is not such a "pucker" moment........:rolleyes:

The second things is, as you put the bedan to the wood, at a 45, with the bottom, the flat rubbing, push up, then roll it over, this point of pushing up, very slightly, was a really big thing for me, it just makes the whole cut way easier.

Good luck, post some pics! :wave:
 
While I'm at it, I'll show you what I'm doing.....

egg_start.JPG egg_halfway.JPG egg_almost_done.JPG

At the start, I make a small tenon on each end, this way I'll not run into the drive center, or the live center. I then to one end, usually the short end first, and then the long end. I change up which end goes to the headstock after on or two, this way, I'm not practicing the same cut on one side all the time.

I do not bother with sanding or finish, you get a good finish, almost as nice as the skew, with the bedan, but like I said, these are just for practice, so no use spending time on finishing them.

If I was making them to keep, I'd use a longer piece of wood, and turn a MT#2 tenon on it, stick that in the head stock, and turn away, I'd remove the tail stock to finish up that end, then I'd part off the headstock end.

For practice, this is quick and easy, and uses less wood.

The Dead center I'm using is a nice longer one, this helps, as I'm right handed and the large head of the DVR gets in the way, the longer drive center helps with that. I got this drive center from Jean-Francois, he just gave it too me. :D

Cheers!
 
Stu, I had the opportunity to watch a demo where Dick Sing turned an egg. He said he has turned thousands of them and has a personal egg collection of more than 500 different wood species. It was fascinating to watch how quickly he could turn an egg.

He turns all of his eggs from a 2X2X3" long blank. He mounts the blank between centers with an old fashioned cup center in the headstock and a live cup center in the tailstock. He uses cup centers so he will not mar the wood.

Next he rounds up the blank. Then using a template made from formica he turns the overall shape of the egg with a max diameter of about 1 3/4".

He removes the egg from between centers and mounts it in a holder he made from 1 1/2" PVC pipe connector that he cut 8 slots and expansion holes in. The roughed out egg fits very snugly inside this piece of pipe thus the expansion slots. These slots and holes are done after inserting a short piece of PVC pipe inside the end of the connector all the way to the ridge and gluing it in place. This piece of pipe is just long enough to limit how far the egg can be inserted and locates the egg on the maximum diameter so the fingers can grip it tightly. On the other end which is inserted into the chuck another short piece of PVC pipe is glued in for strength.

The finger configuration created by the PVC slots hold the egg very firmly for finishing the ends, sanding and polishing. You may find that you will have to insert a knockout bar to push the egg out so tightly does the holder grip them.

Of course this man is a master and he turns at blinding speed. His eggs are exact duplicates of one another and he starts sanding at 220 or higher.
 
No in-progress pictures but finished :rolleyes: egg below. Went over to pester...er....visit Tod's dogs today. As always, I'm impressed with, not only the tools, but his (Tod's, not the dogs) understanding of how to use them to get a job done. He did a quick resaw on his monster MM and came out with a "wow" smooth cut. Enneyhow, I digress. Before I left he handed me two long (about 8') pieces of mahogany 2"X2"s and suggested there might be a "couple" pens in there. Of course, soon as I got home, sawed off a piece and spun it. Came up with an egg for Stu's challenge. It's outside on my Neander vice drying after a shot of lacquer sealer. I turned round between centers, then put in chuck and kept tail center in until near final parting off time. Used 1" skew for most of it. That mahogany is harder stuff than I remembered.
 

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Hey! Stu!


A real friend wouldn't start a challenge like this knowing his buddy was trying to finish the shop so he could set up and use his new b/s and lathe!


Kinda like starting a race when your buddy has a broken leg and it's in a cast!

:eek::rolleyes::D
 
...Kinda like starting a race when your buddy has a broken leg and it's in a cast!...
Uh...Ken...you didn't mention the part about how the buddy actually broke his leg about two or three years ago, and he just hasn't bothered to get the cast taken off yet.

Next thing you know, Ken will be blaming a bunch of Internet abysserators for the fact that his shop's not finished. Sheesh. Some people. :rolleyes:

:rofl:
 
Uh...Ken...you didn't mention the part about how the buddy actually broke his leg about two or three years ago, and he just hasn't bothered to get the cast taken off yet.

Next thing you know, Ken will be blaming a bunch of Internet abysserators for the fact that his shop's not finished. Sheesh. Some people. :rolleyes:

:rofl:

Uh.....Well..........Yeah!
 
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